


Company for the night

by crystalcooper



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: Bisexuality, Casual Sex, Episode: s07e03 Written in Murder, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 16:22:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14312577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalcooper/pseuds/crystalcooper
Summary: The festival of Erzulie in Saint Marie is a time for love and commitment. But for those who are ready for neither, sometimes having company for the night is enough.





	Company for the night

Dwayne slipped out of his little room, moving carefully in the dark. The light of the Caribbean stars that shone on the patio didn’t really help him see in the dark, and he just wanted to grab a glass of water without waking up DI Mooney. He was grateful to his boss, who so kindly had given him a place to stay for a few days while his house was under repairs, but he really wasn’t used to share a house with someone he wasn’t sleeping with. He even had had to put trousers on to get some water!

Trying to make as little noise as possible, he crept to the window-door into the main room, and he was steeling himself to walk past the bed, when the sound of a bright voice made him jump a foot in air.

– Dwayne! Are you having problems sleeping, too? –

Still half startled to death, Dwayne turned around to where the voice was coming from, and sure enough detective Mooney was sitting on the steps that led from the patio down to the beach. Beer in hand, he was smiling cheerily and gesturing for Dwayne to join him. Dwayne sighed.

– You made me lose ten years of my life, chief! I was just going to find some water in the kitchen, I didn’t think you were still awake –

Mooney smiled apologetically. – I’m very sorry I have startled you, Dwayne. I just couldn’t sleep so I decided to sit here and look at the stars instead. – He hesitated a beat, looking unsure. – Care to join me? –

Dwayne was actually hoping to go back to bed as soon as possible, but the detective had such an hopeful look in his eyes, he didn’t have the heart to refuse. – I’ll just grab a beer – he said instead.

 

With a cold beer in his hand, he settled on the steps beside Mooney, toes in the cool sand, and leaned back with his eyes closed. He sighed contentedly.

– I don’t know if I said it before, but it’s nice to have you here, Dwayne – came the DI’s voice from his right.

– It’s very kind of you to let me stay, sir – replied Dwayne without bothering to open his eyes.

– Don’t “sir” me Dwayne, come on, it is entirely too late for formalities – Dwayne only smiled a bit. – And I didn’t mean it just as a nicety either, you know? I really am grateful to have some company here at the house – said Mooney matter-of-factly.

Dwayne turned around, narrowing his eyes at him. – What do you mean? We are here all the time! – he said puzzled.

– Yes I know. It’s just, since Siobhan left it’s been very quiet here at night. You know, we used to sit under the stars and talk, and now I'm alone. I don’t like it very much – Mooney sighed. Dwayne nodded his head along.

– I know what you mean. But when I get like that, I just find someone to share my bed with. Why don’t you try it too, eh? – he contributed with, smiling mischievously in the DI’s direction. Mooney just shook his head.

– I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet, Dwayne. I know it sounds silly, but I loved my wife very much, and I don’t think I can handle the wooing, the feelings and the commitment just yet. –

Dwayne scoffed. – You don’t have to commit to anything to have company! Look at me: I’ve dated just about every attractive woman on the island, and some of the men too, but I’ve never committed to anything in my life. Other than my job, that is –  he added hurriedly.

DI Mooney looked at him with an eyebrow raised. – I didn’t know you where into men too – he commented surprised.

– Why, is that a problem? –

Mooney shook his head vigorously. – No, of course not! In fact, I am bisexual myself – he said with his usual chipper smile, like it was the most trivial detail, which to be honest it probably was to him. This time it was Dwayne’s turn to look mildly surprised. – Oh? – he said, very intelligently.

– I had a few boyfriends in my time, too! – went on the detective – Nothing serious ever came of it, though. When I met Siobhan’s mother I was gone in a heartbeat. Head over heels in love. There was never anyone else after that. – Dwayne hummed understandingly.

There was a stretch of silence, each man sipping his beer quietly. Dwayne could see the detective going a bit blue thinking about his dead wife, and tried to get his mind off it by changing back the subject.

– So why don’t you go and find someone to keep you company just for a night then, no strings attached? – he suggested.

– Well I’m not you Dwayne. I can’t just walk into a bar and charm the pants off someone for the night. It’s not me at all. – objected Mooney.

– But if you could, would you? – asked Dwayne enigmatically.

Mooney looked puzzled. – What do you mean? –

Dwayne licked his lips, turned his body a bit more in the detective’s direction. – What I’m asking is, would you be interested in a bit of… fun… if you didn’t have to go to a bar and chat up a stranger? – He looked very serious, and as he stared directly into his eyes, the detective started to slowly catch on.

Mooney’s eyes widened a bit, and he looked surprised but also a bit worried. – Dwayne. I’m… You know you don’t have to offer anything, right? I am managing quite fine alone, and this is more than company enough. – he assured his friend.

– What if I wanted to offer something? – Dwayne was still focused on staring right into Mooney’s eyes, and his heart was beating a thousand beats per minute. After all, it wasn’t every day he propositioned his superior officer, and for all of Dwayne’s usual smoothness and self-confidence, he felt like he was hanging by a thread.

Mooney thought about it for a bit, then he looked quickly to the side and cleared his throat. – Just for a night. No strings attached. – he said to Dwayne, looking for confirmation. Dwayne broke out in his usual charming grin, looking like the cat who got the canary. – Of course, – he purred.

All of a sudden Mooney was smiling and looking quite awkward, wringing his hand a bit and averting his eyes. – Well – he said, looking like he didn’t know how to proceed from there. Dwayne did.

He leaned toward the detective, bringing one hand to his right cheek and cupping his jaw, then closed the distance and gently pressed his lips to the other man’s. Mooney made half a surprised noise, but then pressed back into the kiss, bringing his own left hand first to rest lightly on Dwayne’s shoulder and then, as the kiss deepened, to his nape and the back of his head. They snogged for quite a bit, only stopping to gasp for air and press kisses and bites to each other’s throats and necks, until Mooney’s hands slipped under Dwayne’s white vest, roaming over his defined chest and torso, and brushing over his nipples in the process. Dwayne gasped, breaking the kiss, and decided things needed to be moved along to a proper bed. He got to his feet, dragging Mooney with him, and continued kissing him as he slowly backed him up the steps and into the shack. He also used his fingers to quickly unbutton the detective’s short-sleeved shirt, which ended up on the floor together with his own vest. When they got to the bed he pushed Moony backward, forcing him to fall onto his arse, then he straddled his hips slowly, smiling devilishly down at him. Mooney shivered.

Dwayne leaned down, brushing his lips past the detective’s jaw to murmur in his ear. – So, shall I call you Jack? Or do you prefer _sir_? –

 

 

The morning after, Dwayne woke up to the smell of freshly brewed tea and the cheery face of DI Moony holding the cup. Waking up early had never been his thing (the fact that it was eight in the morning notwithstanding), so he just moaned and rubbed a hand on his face, trying desperately to remember why he was in the spare room and if the amazing sex of last night with _his boss_ had been just a dream. He accepted the cup, and Mooney rewarded him with an even bigger smile.

– I’ll make breakfast, – he said, and he was gone.

While the tea slowly brought him back to the land of the living, Dwayne remembered sneaking back to his own bed in the early hours of the morning. God, the man snored! Plus, the arrangement had been one night only, no strings attached, and Dwayne knew very well that waking up in the same bed almost always brought embarrassment and awkwardness and other things he hadn’t quite thought about last night, when he had clearly been thinking with his dick. He started to worry a bit now, although the chief seemed to be quite relaxed about it, so maybe they could just act like nothing ever happened. That was one thing he very much liked about sleeping with men.

He got up and started to get dressed, but he couldn’t find neither his vest nor his trousers. Putting on a new vest and his uniform shirt, he went wandering in the main room, where the radio was on and Mooney was apparently frying something on the stove. He turned down an offer of food – decidedly too early – and started checking the floor and under the bed, looking for his missing trousers. Mooney kept chattering on about the importance of food, and then the Erzulie festival he had just heard about on the radio, and it was all so chilled and everyday-like he completely forgot about their conversation the night before about dating.

– Which reminds me, it’s tomorrow night! We got to get ourselves a date, chief – he said without thinking.

– Not sure I’m ready to fish in that particular river just yet – replied Mooney, and Dwayne immediately realized his mistake. No strings attached was fine, but he didn’t need to be a bad friend.

– Oh, yeah, of course sir – he replied, both apologetic and mortified. Feeling like he had put his foot in his mouth, which he had, he ignored the detective’s invite of “go on ahead” and concentrated on his quest for his trousers.

– Did you lose something Dwayne? – Dwayne could swear he heard the smirk in Mooney’s question. He tried to ignore it while he searched the bed, and at last there they were, bunched at the bottom of it, together with his boxers from the night before. He held them up, smiling and waiting for the detective to get off the phone so he could make a cheeky remark about his trousers in his boss’ bed, but the DI’s next sentence cut him short.

– Dwayne? Better get those pants on. There’s been a murder. –

 

 

(Later, Dwayne recognised the irony of having the man he had just slept with distract him enough to ruin his first serious date with a woman in years. The thought of proposing they all three go to bed together crossed his mind, but then he remembered the “one night only” thing and the “strait-up girl” thing and he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. In the end, it was Mooney who helped him and Darlene get together, but Dwayne was quite grateful to go back to his own house anyway.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own these characters, the BBC does (and France Télévisions?).
> 
> I saw the scene with Dwayne looking for his trousers and well - I couldn't get this out of my head. No matter how much of a messy and untidy person you are (and take this from one of the messiest people to ever exist) you do NOT misplace your trousers into someone else's bed by chance. Especially if you don't even sleep in the same room...


End file.
